China announces foreign investment management rules in pilot FTZs

BEIJING - China released an outline for managing foreign investments in the pilot Free Trade Zones (FTZ) on Tuesday.

The outline includes 20 detailed rules that determine where and how foreign companies can file their information to join the FTZs, as well as supervision measures, according to the announcement on the Ministry of Commerce website.

A string of improvements to further facilitate foreign investment in the FTZs are included in the plans.

Foreign enterprises are no longer required to put their contracts or constitution on government record as a prerequisite to set-up or change their registration.

All foreign investors in the FTZs are obliged to submit annual reports to help with management of the zones.

A file system will be established to ensure transparency and information sharing among administrative departments.

The plan also introduced more detailed supervision and inspection rules for foreign enterprises, clarifying who will be responsible for inspection, what methods they will use and what contents can be inspected, as well as penalty measures.

The rules are based on the administrative measures used in the first FTZ in Shanghai, which was established in September 2013. The Shanghai FTZ was designed to pilot new procedures to streamline the overloaded administrative approval system and encourage innovation and internationalization.

Three new FTZs in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian began official operation on Tuesday. They are expected to boost economic reform, promote trade and facilitate investment in new areas.